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TRACK REVIEW: ‘Gorgeous’ – Taylor Swift

Less than a month out from the release of Taylor Swift’s hotly anticipated sixth full-length effort reputation, and the world remains relatively in the dark surrounding the contents of the album and the direction its unpredictable creator decided upon when putting it together. Lead single ‘Look What You Made Me Do” was a dark, unrelentingly angry anthem of a woman sick of being painted as a monster, while the first promo single ‘…Ready For It?’ was a peppy pop anthem that experimented with Swift’s production and vocal delivery. ‘Gorgeous’ follows a similar pattern in that it is entirely different to anything the two releases that came before it.

A bubbly, fizzy lovesick pop song about just how beautiful a boy is, ‘Gorgeous’ is the weakest of reputation’s pre-releases thus far. That being said, the track is a hypnotic earworm that gets stuck in your head like only Swift can. Its production is a mash-up of 80’s synth pop (most notably the chorus) plucked straight from Swift’s own 1989 and Carly Rae Jepson’s EMOTION. Lyrically, the song delivers what it is supposed to but nothing revolutionary, mostly let down by the chorus with its pre-choruses and verses being its main stars, a common trend in reputation’s tracks so far. Vocally, Swift explores a higher, airier register on the chorus reminiscent of her collaboration with Zayn on ‘I Don’t Want To Live Forever’.

Overall, the track is a strong pop song, but isn’t as brilliant nor hit-worthy as ‘Look What You Made Me Do’ or ‘…Ready For It?’. However, it is a perfect promotional single, only adding to the mystery surrounding the question on everyone’s mind – what exactly Swift’s reputation is going to be?